CA-04: Run John Run!

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

John Doolittle is in it to win it.

Despite having multiple primary challengers, plus the recent leak of a Republican poll showing him losing to his 2006 Democratic opponent, scandal-tarred Congressman John Doolittle (R-CA) has made it clear he's not backing down from his 2008 re-election fight.

"I will not step aside," Doolittle told reporters in a conference call today. "I am running again. Period."

This is terrible news.  I mean, if he runs in a Republican primary with so many other contenders, surely he can pull the 30-35% needed to win.  And then he'll face our challenger Charlie Brown in a rematch of last year, when he carried a whopping 49% of the vote!  I mean, how can we defeat an incumbent whose being harrassed by Bush's Justice Department and has a bunch of battle-tested staffers and aides who've stared down the glare of a federal grand jury?  This is terrible!!

Please don't throw me in the briar patch...